Fuel-lighter.



Rfvv, num.. FUEL LIGHTER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE L6. 1910.

1l. Ouh 1 ,u 1 V2m .A wn DrE.. du". ma D e t a D1 R.W. DULL.

FUEL LIGHTER.

l APPLICATION mic 1uNE16v. 1910.

Patented im. 21, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

RAYMOND W. DULL, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO`S."LI'EIPHENS-ADAMISON MFG. CO., OF ARORA, ILLINOIS, AOORPORATION OFILLINOIS.

FUEL-LIGHTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 21, 1915.

Application filed June 16, 1910. Serial No. 567,284.

T o all '1t-Imm t may concern Be it known that I, RAYMOND YV. DULL, acitizen of the United States of America, and resident of Aurora, Kanecounty, Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inF ucl-Lighters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to apparatus for unloading boats.

It relates more particularly to fuel light-A ers for transferring coalto a steamboat. This has been done in various ways.

The obj ect of my invention is to provide a boat or lighter in which thecoal or other commodity'is heldin bins, andjjin" which means areprovided for discharging the contents of any particular bin, comprisinga spout that will delive'r the sa'me .wat either side of the boat,wherebyvthe coal or other commodity may be delivered to a Steamship orother structure, as will hereinafter more fully appear. Y

To the foregoing and other useful ends,

' my invention consists in matters hereinafter the elevator.

set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure l is a side elevation of a fuellighter embodying the principles of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan ofthe said fuel lighter. Fig. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal section oflthe tower portion of' the boat, showing a portion of the elevatorhousing` broken away to show Fig. il, is a vertical cross-section onlline 4 4: in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan of the housing of the elevatorshown in Figs. 3 and l, showing the relation of the two spouts.

As thus illustrated, my invention comprises a boat A of any suitableform of construction. The interior of said boatv is divided transverselyto provide a series of bins B, which are adapted to hold coal or anyother commodity, and which have their lower ends provided with gatesindicated at Z), whereby each bin can be opened to discharge itscontents independently of the other. In this way, means are provided forcontrolling the discharge from the compartments to the conveyers.` Thetower C is situated amidships, and contains a bucket elevator D. Theconveyers E extend longitidinally of the boat, at the bottom thereof,below the bins. These conveyers are adapted to deliver the coal or othercommodity to the lower end of theelevator D, their ends oal from theelevator.

the machinery.

4livered to some other structure.

being arranged tovoverhang the lower transverse portions of theelevator, and are operated i'n any suitable manner. The boom F contains,a conveyer f provided with pans or buckets which receive the coal orother commodity from a spout f1, which latter is inclosed within thetower and receives the This boom is adaptd to be swung from one side ofthe boat to the other, and-is provided with a spout f2 for deliveringthe coal or other commodity to a Steamship or other structure. A cableconnection ,f3 of any suitable character is provided for raising andlowering the said boom. The conveyers E and f can be of any suitableknown or approved construction. They are, however, preferably of thekind which are provided with pans or buckets, as shown in Fig. 3. Theelevator is provided with an overflow spout G, whereby if the coal backsup in the spout f1 it will overflow the wall between the two spouts andpass from the spout f1 and fall into the spout Gr and then into the bing, the two spouts being out of alinement, as shown in Fig. 4, and inFig. 5, thus preventing breakage of For this purpose both spouts areopen at the tops of their inner end portions, in other words, the topsor upper ends of the spouts are arranged side by side, whereby thematerials may overflow from the one spout to the other. Ordinarily, thecoal is discharged in thedirection of arrow No. l in Fig. 5, but if thecoal backs up in the spout f1, it then overflows in the spout G, asindicated by arrow No. 2, and as previously described.

The tower C contains the devices, of any suitable character, forcontrolling the operation of the conveyers'E and f, and the elevator D,so that the discharge of the coal from the lighter may be etlicientlyand easily controlled. As shown, the lighter has an after-cabin H forthe engine-room, and a forward-'Cabin or pilot-house I, as shown inFig. 1. The usual equipment is provided for propelling and steering theboat. It can be loaded in any suitable manner. rllhen by opening thegate of any particular bin, the contents thereof can be discharged froma spout f2 into the hold of a Steamship or de- Thus the quantity of coalor other material can be aC- curately measured, and one bin or two binsor more can be discharged at a moments notice.

ln this way, lightoring is greatly facilitated. The boat can, of course,be used for handling other kinds of material.

As shown in Fig. 4, the bucket elevator D hangs from the sprockets d,and its lower end is left to run in a loose loop. The ends of theconveyers E extend into said loop. A housing d1 incloses and keeps theelevator in place-that is, prevents it from swinging laterally of theboat. This housing is inclosed by the tower C. Any suitable transmissioncan be used for driving the said elevatorzat the desired speed. Thespout G, as explained, prevents the undesirable accumulation of materialin the elevator spout f1 when theboom is not carrying oil" the materialfast enough.

I do not limit or confine myself to the exact construction shown anddescribed.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A boat divided into compartments forming b insyjconveyers forreceiving the contents ofthe bins, means for controlling the dischargeof the contents from thebins, an elevator-forreceiving-the contents fromthe coni/'eyer's`,*^ the ends of the conveyers overhanging thetransversely arranged lower portion of the elevator, a boom providedwith a conveyer for receiving the contents from the elevator, and aspout for the end of said boom, whereby the contents of any bin can hedischarged at either side of the boat.

2. A boat provided Awith a series of compartments, a towerlcontaining anelevator., a conveyer for receiving the contents of said compartments,adapted to deliver the same to the said elevator, the-delivery end ofthe conveyer overhanging the transverse lower portion of the elevatoiaaswinging boom carried by 'the tower, a conveyer in the boom, adapted toreceive the contents from the elevator, and a spout at the endof theboom.

3. A boat having the interior thereof divided into compartments, aconvyer traveling undersaid compartments, means for controlling thedischarge from the compartments to the conveyer, said conveyer providedwith pans or buckets, and means traveling transversely of the boat andrunning under the discharge end of the conveyer, for taking the cargofrom the pans or buckets. i

et. A boat provided centrally with a tower,

f and a spout for the. outer end of the boom.

5,. A boat provided with an elevator tower, an endless. bucket elevatorin said tower, which elevator is hung at the top and arranged to run ina loose loop at the lower vend thereof, a swinging discharge boom,

means fo'rvdelivering from the top of the elevator to saidboonn aconveyer extending along the lbottom ofthe boat and into the said loop,and a series of holding bins disposed in a row above said conveyer.

6.'. A boat provided with an elevator tower, an endless bucket elevatorin said tower, which elevator is hung at the top and arranged to run ina loose loop at thelower end thereof, a swinging discharge boom, meansfor delivering from the rtop of the elevator to `said boom, a conveyerextending along the biottorn of the boat and into the said loop, aseries of holding bins disposed in a row above said conveyer, a housingfor said elevator, and a tower for inclosing saidA housing, s'aid boombeing. mounted immediately in rear of said tower and adapted tov swingfrom one side of the' boat tothe other. Signed by me at Chicago,lIllinois, this 11th day of June, 1910.

RAYMOND W. DULL.

Witnesses:

WVM. BELL DURMON, J. NORBY. e

